RAB Outdoor Clothing and Equipment

RAB Outdoor Clothing and Equipment:Rab down clothing is renowned for its functionality and each piece has been designed for flawless performance on the mountain. A commitment to high quality fabrics and the most efficient high-loft down insulation makes these jackets perfect for cold climbs.

RAB Outdoor Clothing and Equipment: Rab clothing has been tried and tested in the harshest environments, from the Alps to Alaska, and it's no surprise that this is the first choice for many mountaineers, climbers and walkers.

RAB Outdoor Clothing and Equipment:'ve noticed the many modern faces of fleece because the fabric's inventors, Polartec (still leaders in the fleece market), keep stealthing the stuff onto my coat rack, inside my jackets. One soft shell is Marmot M1 fabric bonded with Polartec 'Windbloc' fleece; another Arc'teryx knitted zip-up is actually fleece with a crafty 'aesthetic outer' disguise. They seem to have solved all the issues I had with fleece. It's even eco-friendly and offers UV protection now. So I ordered a modern fleece mid layer, a Rab Shadow Hoodie, described quite clearly as an 'extremely versatile stretch fleece'.

RAB Outdoor Clothing and Equipment:When it arrived, the Shadow wasn't beige at all, in any sense of the word. The long length black top had a high neck, a balaclava-like hood and thumb loops. It was stitched together into an ergonomic woman shape from panels of fabric with contrast coloured flat-locked seams. I tugged an arm: it boinged like elastic. The zip-up top had a smooth DWR (durable water resistant) outerface and was made from a dense fabric called Polartec Wind Pro with 'hardface technology' - yet another modern face of Polartec fleece.

RAB Outdoor Clothing and Equipment:I wondered how Polartec's Wind Pro fabric compares with Gore's Windstopper. I assumed Wind Pro cuts a lot of wind, whereas Windstopper cuts all of it because it has a membrane in it - which would make Wind Pro more breathable for more active use. I asked Rab designer Helen Robinson and was told: